Saturday & Sunday – April 20/21,2024
Travel days! Over 26 hours door to door.
Our route took us from PIT to Atlanta, then direct to Cape Town. We arrived at PIT super early from St. Clair thanks to a really efficient Uber driver.
Check-in was smooth and our departure to Atlanta was on time. The flight out of Atlanta was delayed about an hour, but they made some of it up in air.
We had some interesting travel partners. On the flight from Pittsburgh to Atlanta a gal from Johannesburg sat in our row. She was visiting her parents who are expatriates and IT specialists living in Upper St. Clair of all places. She gave us some great tips on potential stops along our travel route in SA. On the flight from Atlanta to Cape Town a young fella from the Karoo region (high desert north of Cape Town) sat next to Dick. Nice guy. He has spent the last few years in Iowa directing teams of migrant farm workers.
Our arrival gate in Cape Town was occupied when we arrived so we deplaned on the tarmac and took a bus to the terminal. Surprisingly cool weather. Immigration and baggage claim were a breeze.
We had made arrangements with our lodging at Welgelegen House for a driver to transport us from the airport to the hotel. With our late arrival things got mixed up and there was no one to greet us. We eventually got it sorted out. While we were waiting for the driver must have been a 100+ people between Uber, Taxi’s and assorted others trying to provide transit, need to be vigilant. The hotel driver was great and a huge Michael Jordan fan. He wore an official ‘Air Jordan’ jacket and shoes.
Once at our lodging, Sidney, the night manager got our bags to the room and said we could just go through check in in the morning. We must have looked like we had been on the road for a while. The room is super cute with a small balcony with a view of Table Mountain. After a beer and glass of wine from the honor bar we headed for bed. Table Mountain is calling in the morning.
